Tuesday, March 27, 2007

At least 48 killed in dual truck bombing in markets in Tal Afar

Above: Bomb scene from a previous incident in Tal Afar. The city of approximately 200,000 is made up almost entirely of Turkimen, and is a mix of Shia and Sunni.

BAGHDAD: Two nearly simultaneous truck bombs, one of them detonated by remote control, ripped through markets in Tal Afar on Tuesday, killing at least 48 people and wounding dozens, the police said, as violence surged outside the Iraqi capital...

The explosions in Tal Afar, the second attack in four days, occurred about five minutes apart at popular markets in the northern and central parts of the city, which is 420 kilometers, or 260 miles, northwest of Baghdad.

At least 48 people were killed and 103 wounded, said a police brigadier, Abdul Karim al-Jubouri.

One of the trucks was detonated by remote control while people gathered to buy the flour it was carrying in the central Shiite neighborhood of Muhyou, a local police officer said. The other truck was loaded with vegetables and parked near a wholesale market, not far from a primary school that was closed for the day.